Know your Japanese Mythological Beasts (part 1)

Question 1

What has the head of a monkey, the body of a tanuki, the legs of a tiger, and the tail of a snake?
Hint #1: Eating it is thought to cure the hiccups (I wonder what it tastes like and how it is prepared. I imagine it would make a decent miso-based nabe….
Hint #2: Miyamoto Musashi supposedly killed one of these with a lance.
answer
Question 2

This mythical creature is native to mountain passes in Kumamoto. What is it?
Hint #1: They have a potato-like head (or a stone one), and a straw covered body.
Hint #2: Monks who stole oil are said to have been punished by being transformed into one of these.
answer
Question 3

This monster is a humanoid with blackish-green skin, luminescent eyes, and a pointed beard. It is rarely seen by man because it lives in an underwater kingdom.
Hint #1: Combine the kanji for “shark” and “person” to make this.
answer
Question 4
What is the Japanese Will ‘o the Wisp?
Hint #1: A possible explanation for these phenomena is methane gas rising from the graves of decomposing corpses.
Hint #2: Combine the kanji for “ball” and “person”.
answer
Question 5
What mythological creature resembles a snake, can speak to humans (but often lies), enjoys alcoholic beverages, can leap 1 meter, and has never been captured in spite of many reported sightings?


Hint #1: It appeared in Doraemon, where it was reported to be about 60cm in length.
Hint #2: The kanji for earth and child are used to write its name.
answer